Joe O’Rourke on: Disc Unknown
Posted on 5 July 2026
This month as part of our interview series People we Work With, we interviewed artist Joe O’Rourke ahead of his upcoming solo exhibition at Castlefield Gallery this August, Disc Unknown. Join us for the preview on 30 July from 6-8pm.
Hi Joe! Tll us abour your practice in one sentence.
Collect images, text, and objects; arrange, look, paint, rearrange, paint, cut, collect, re-rearrange, paint, cut, look, paint, think, repeat
We’re excited to see your work in Castlefield Gallery after your successful solo at Pipeline, London. How will your work change from what was presented at Pipeline, to what our visitors will see at Castlefield Gallery this August?
I’ve considered how the exhibition unfolds over both spaces. Pipeline acts as a precursor with a smaller selection of works that introduce a fragmentary and fleeting use of paint, printed image, text, and found object. At Castlefield, elements of the Pipeline show continue but are re-staged and expanded upon. Here, painting moves between image, object, and environment.
What’s a challenge you had to work with rather than against?
I’m making two site-specific works in response to the window space and the double-height wall. These installations are significantly larger spaces than my studio, which has meant working on the piece in sections and using digital mockups to see how it looks as a whole. I’ll also be doing some site-specific painting during the install. Developing these works back and forth between analogue and digital methods has been an interesting research process.
This exhibition is the result of an exclusive open call opportunity for Castlefield Gallery Associates. What advice would you say to someone who is also thinking about applying to our open calls?
This is my 4th time trying! Each time I thought that was the right time for me… but now I can see they definitely weren’t! Every unsuccessful proposal is still an opportunity to imagine and move your practice along.
Looking ahead, what are you hoping to explore or develop next?
I have a place on the Slade’s MFA Fine Art, so I’m hoping to move there at the end of September (scholarship dependent!). I’m looking forward to being a student again and having a sustained period of two years to focus on my practice and explore new material processes.
One thing inspiring you right now?
Blindboy podcast- I enjoy the way he creates connections between seemingly disparate objects, ideas, myths and artifacts
A place that feeds your creativity?
On long easy runs
Disc Unknown will exhibit at Castlefield Gallery from 2 August 2026 – 30 August 2026.
Disc Unknown is a solo exhibition of mixed-media paintings that will respond to each gallery space. Presented differently across both venues, the body of work remains conceptually unified. Through shifts in scale and using various materials, found objects, and text, O’Rourke examines how meaning is constructed within painting. The exhibition brings together his ongoing series of DVD-case works alongside larger wall-based and freestanding pieces, guiding viewers through a landscape of recurring motifs, texts, and materials.
Preview: Thursday 30 July, 6 – 8pm book
Saturday Slow Preview: 1 August, 12pm – 5pm book
Follow & Support Joe O'Rourke
Images
Title: Joe O’Rourke in his studio courtesy of Jake Harrison
Disc Unknown at Pipeline, London, courtesy of Jack Elliot Edwards
